


The Virtues of Having a Guide

by poeticname



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Humor, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-10 23:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3307355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poeticname/pseuds/poeticname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shiraishi goes on a trip around Tokyo. Fuji invites himself along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Virtues of Having a Guide

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution to the Tenipuri Secret Santa event that took place on tumblr in 2013. As my one and only attempt at writing Shiraishi, I hope I presented him decently.

Shiraishi’s goal in going to Tokyo was to be productive. 

The very productive objective was to meet the coaches that Osamu couldn’t be bothered to go meet himself. Then once Shiraishi got in touch with them he would arrange practice matches and training camps and all those other good things like Osamu should be doing.

To ensure the productivity of the trip, Shiraishi had even spent the train ride to Tokyo making up a schedule to prevent wasting time. He was going to do absolutely everything his coach should be doing completely flawlessly. No time will be wasted with Shiraishi on the case.

He has his schedule written down in a notebook and everything.

Shiraishi is looking over his writing one last time, leaning against a pillar in a Tokyo train station, when he looks up to find Fuji Shuusuke peering down at his paper.

Shiraishi almost drops his notebook.

Fuji notices he’s been spotted and smiles.

"Hello there, Shiraishi."

It takes Shiraishi a few seconds to collect himself and a few more seconds to formulate a reply to one of his tennis rivals appearing out of seemingly nowhere.

"Hello to you too, Fuji-kun."

Fuji takes a step back from trying to look at Shiraishi’s notebook. Shiraishi stares at him in bewilderment. 

Fuji either misses this look or opts to ignore it entirely, "What brings you to Tokyo on this fine Thursday afternoon?"

"Oh, not much," Shiraishi scratches his neck with the hand not holding his schedule. "Captain business."

"Sounds fun."

There’s a small pause. Shiraishi shakes his head to snap out of his reverie.

"Fuji-kun," he manages to look at Fuji without too much confusion showing. "What brings you to this specfic train station?"

"Oh, nothing in particular. Just people-watching."

Shiraishi thinks that’s highly unlikely. This is Fuji Shuusuke he's dealing with. He had to have known Shiraishi was coming here, and he has to have some kind of ulterior motive for showing up. It’s not like Shiraishi believes every rumor about Fuji, but it’s hard not to hear so many of them without getting the tiniest bit suspicious.

Fuji, for his part, continues to smile.

"Shiraishi, do you by chance know your way around this train station?"

"No, I don’t," Shiraishi had even dedicated fifteen minutes in his timetable just to finding his way out in case he got lost.

"Would you like me to walk you out of here?"

The oddness of the situation strikes Shiraishi in that moment. 

He has just arrived in Tokyo and a rival who is not particularly known for his kindness and should not have known of his arrival is now offering him directions.

Shiraishi supposes that stranger things have happened to him.

Now that he thinks about it, stranger things happen to him on a pretty regular basis.

He nods. 

"I’ve never been to this particular station before, that would be helpful."

Fuji’s ever-present smile seems to widen. 

"Excellent. Let’s get going then."

He walks ahead of Shiraishi, hands cheerfully clasped behind his back, and Shiraishi stuffs his notebook into his bag with his tennis racket, taking a moment to wonder why Fuji is wearing his Seigaku jersey and carrying a tennis bag before taking off behind him.

—-

They exit the station in a matter of six minutes. 

Shiraishi is ahead of schedule now. 

Fuji is proving to be very useful.

Fuji is entertaining to boot. He comments on everything around him from the train station’s advertisements to its oddly-patterned carpet, and he and Shiraishi are in the middle of discussing whether that carpet looked more like spears or dicks when they finally breathe the open air of the city.

Fuji stops talking and looks at him curiously.

"So, where are you planning to go next?"

Shiraishi doesn’t even need to pull out his schedule to recite this part of it.

"I’m going to spend half an hour to fourty-five minutes at Hyoutei in an attempt to coordinate something with Atobe or their coach."

Fuji frowns, “Shouldn’t your coach be doing that?”

Shiraishi can’t hold back a huge sigh.

Fuji looks sympathetic, "Sumire-chan told us he was bad, but I wasn’t aware your coach was that irresponsible.”

"Last time we sent him to Tokyo he came back with no tennis arrangements and three fairly visible hickeys."

Fuji whistles a bit admiringly, “To think I just thought he was eccentric.”

"He’s that too."

They pause for a moment.

"So, do you need directions to Hyoutei?"

Shiraishi doesn’t, actually. He has a highlighted map in his tennis bag.

"Lead the way, Fuji-kun." He says anyways, falling into step beside Fuji and hoping that following him keeps him ahead of schedule.

Also, he has yet to convince Fuji that the station’s carpet was not in fact as phallic as he was saying. 

"So Shiraishi, what’s your favourite month of the year?"

Maybe that topic can wait.

—-

Walking through an unfamiliar city is nerve-wracking, but trailing behind Fuji is kind of relaxing.

He and Shiraishi start out talking about their favourite things, and then somehow the topic shifts to sibling stories. Shiraishi is in the middle of telling Fuji about the time he and Yukari rearranged the kitchen cupboards to hide a broken plate when Fuji stops walking.

Shiraishi stops too, and finds himself looking out on a paved path lined by ancient-looking trees. At the end of the path there is a very tall European-style building. It must be impressive when you can see it up close, but from this distance it just looks white.

"We’ve arrived at Hyoutei," Fuji announces. He doesn’t seem terribly excited to be here.

Shiraishi, on the other hand, is another six minutes ahead of schedule and very pleased with this fact.

"Well," he turns to Fuji, "will you be showing me around Hyoutei as well?"

Fuji hums, a bit troubled, “I can’t say I know my way around.”

Shiraishi frowns. He’s already mostly forgotten that Fuji wasn’t technically invited along on this trip and is thinking of reasons to keep him around.

"Then, from this point forward, you will not be my guide, but my travelling companion!" Shiraishi proclaims, hoping his wording is at least a little funny. 

Fuji does giggle, and Shiraishi grins in return. He decides to continue with his act and points dramatically towards the school building in the distance.

"Let us seek the tennis courts!"

Fuji smiles, obviously still amused, “That one wasn’t as dramatic as the first one.”

Shiraishi shrinks back and scratches at the back of his neck, “Yes, that was not one of my best.”

"Maybe if we go talk to Atobe he can give you some pointers."

Shiraishi laughs louder than he means to at that one. Fuji looks immensely pleased with himself.

"That is a good idea, Fuji-kun," Shiraishi says, still grinning though he’s not laughing anymore, "but my tennis appointments come first."

"Of course."

They take off down the long, spotless pathway.

—-

After asking a kind old secretary where the tennis courts are, Fuji and Shiraishi pause at the edge of the stands to watch the Hyoutei regulars practice.

Shiraishi has to admit that it’s impressive. Not only is the sheer size of the facility and club intimidating, but how in sync and focused their movements are is almost mesmerizing.

Fuji opens his eyes.

"I want to get a closer look."

Shiraishi doesn’t answer outright, they just walk closer and closer until they can properly see the scene. 

Atobe is standing in front of the club, issuing orders from the shade of a parasol provided by his silent friend. The regulars of the club are lined up directly in front of him, and the sub-regulars form a large crowd behind them.

Atobe is the only one not focused on exercising and he’s not facing them, so nobody notices Fuji and Shiraishi in the stands.

"They’re remarkably focused," Shiraishi comments.

"I’d feel bad for interrupting them," Fuji agrees.

At that moment, a mop of fuzzy hair appears somewhere near Shiraishi’s knee and looks around in bewilderment.

"Though it appears there is one exception in their remarkable focus," Fuji comments. "Hello, Akutagawa-kun."

Akutagawa spins around at the speed of light and looks up at Fuji. His eyes seem to sparkle.

"Just Jiroh’s fine, Fuji Shuusuke.” 

Jiroh grins and hops to his feet, sticking his face right up near Fuji’s.

"Are you here for a match?" he looks so excited that Shiraishi can easily imagine a little wagging dog tail.

"Ah, I don’t think there’s time on Shiraishi’s schedule for that. Is there?"

Fuji looks up at Shiraishi so Jiroh does too. His eyes are so wide and pleading that it reminds Shiraishi of Kintarou.

"Well," Shiraishi looks down at the Hyoutei regulars practicing again, "I didn’t schedule time for tennis, but this meeting with Atobe might take a while."

"Eh? You’re here to meet with Atobe? Why didn’t you say so?" Jiroh looks out on the practice and holds his hands up to his mouth. "HEY! ATOBE!"

Shiraishi can practically hear the “aahn” from where he’s standing as Atobe looks over his shoulder at the wildly gesticulating Jiroh.

Jiroh points to Shiraishi’s head, “The Osaka captain guy’s here to see you!”

Atobe raises an eyebrow and turns away to bark out a few more orders. He gets a loud affirmative back then walks over to the stands, jumps over the front gracefully, and proceeds to lean against it, pushing back his hair with one hand as he does.

Jiroh looks even more excited than he did before.

"Fuji-kun," Shiraishi says from the corner of his mouth, "I think taking even a single pointer on dramatics from Atobe would be too much."

Fuji nods silently.

Once he’s done with his dramatic entrance pose, Atobe brushes his bangs to the side and looks right at Shiraishi.

"Shiraishi Kuranosuke, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I’m just hoping to organize some practice matches or something. Should I do that with you or your coach?"

Atobe gives Shiraishi a look as though he would very much like to give him some pointers on dramatic responses.

He pushes himself off from the front of the stands and snaps his fingers, "Kabaji."

"Usu."

Kabaji has gotten closer to the stands since Shiraishi last noticed him, the parasol he was holding up seconds earlier now held neatly by his side. Shiraishi wonders how such a large guy can have such a small presence. Maybe it’s a side effect of standing near Atobe.

"Make sure everybody goes through the correct number of repetitions in my absence."

"Usu."

Atobe makes his way towards Fuji and Shiraishi, up the steps of the stands.

As he gets to a place where he’s standing beside them, he looks at Shiraishi from the corner of his eye.

"Come along now, Shiraishi. I could organize a match between our teams by myself but I believe our coach would also like to be consulted. I have to let him believe he’s in charge sometimes."

Atobe starts walking again without looking back, and Shiraishi hurries to catch up to him, giving Fuji a little wave as he leaves.

"I'll be back soon, Fuji-kun."

"I look forward to it."

Shiraishi hears Jiroh’s excited chatter start up again as he walks, staring at Atobe’s back so he doesn’t lose him until he finally manages to catch up to Atobe’s pace.

Atobe side-eyes him again.

"Why is Fuji Shuusuke accompanying you anyways?”

Shiraishi almost laughs at how Atobe had ignored him up until that point, “Oh, I don’t really know why he’s here. I got off the train and there he was, you know?”

Atobe frowns in thought, still trekking ahead.

"I must say, even my glorious self cannot think of a reason Fuji would skip practice in order to accompany you."

Shiraishi frowns in return.

"How do you know he’s skipping practice?"

Atobe outright scoffs.

"It’s obvious, isn’t it? Tezuka’s a diligent man, he’d never let a fine day such as this one go to waste. Not to mention Fuji is wearing his team jersey. It seems highly odd to put it on simply to go out, don’t you think?"

Shiraishi starts trailing behind Atobe a bit as he digests that.

"Anyways," Atobe snaps his fingers again, calling Shiraishi’s attention, "we should concieve a rough plan for this match before we present it to Sakaki."

Shiraishi grins, glad that his planning is finally being put to use. He struggles to open his tennis bag while walking until he fishes out his notebook triumphantly.

Atobe snatches it out of his hand immediately.

"That’s my personal notebook, Atobe."

Atobe ignores him and starts to flip through it, eyes scanning the pages quickly.

"Ah, found it. Potential plans for a Hyoutei practice match," he scrutinizes the page in question. "Your printing is admirably neat, but I’m afraid I have some objections to these plans."

Shiraishi sighs, takeing the notebook back out of Atobe’s hands as Atobe begins to talk, and prepares himself for a long afternoon.

—-

By the time Atobe leads Shiraishi back to the tennis courts, Shiraishi is dead tired of negotiating and Fuji has apparently agreed to play against Jiroh.

The rest of the regulars are standing around watching the match. Atobe hangs back and looks disapprovingly at how they’re slacking off, but Shiraishi walks up beside them curiously.

All the Hyoutei members are so busy watching the match they don’t even notice him. Shiraishi can see why. Fuji’s bringing out some of his more impressive counters, some of which he didn’t even use against Shiraishi himself. 

Though it’s a far cry from the Perfect Tennis Shiraishi prefers, he does admit that the flashiness of Fuji's techniques is impressive. There’s this certain graceful quality to the way Fuji moves that makes him very enjoyable to watch.

Jiroh on the other hand is grinning and running around the court like a maniac, excitement in his eyes even though he’s missing every two out of three returns.

"I don’t even know how Fuji does half of those moves," Mukahi comments, standing on the tips of his toes to get a better view.

"That’s Fuji Shuusuke for you," beside him, Oshitari shrugs. "I have theories about most of these, but others are as much a mystery to me as they are to you."

Shishido makes a “tch” noise, “I’m just glad that guy isn’t a doubles player. Looks like a pain in the ass to play against.”

"I don’t know," Ohtori watches the match contemplatively. "It seems like Jiroh-senpai’s having fun."

"Jiroh’s a nutjob, Choutarou."

"Maybe it’s like our matches with the Golden Pair?"

"Hell no," Shishido shakes his head, frowning as he observes the match. "That’s like a worthy adversaries thing, where we’re rivals who reocgnize each other’s skill. Fuji’s not recognizing Jiroh like that at all, he’s just bringing out the big guns to beat him down as fast he can."

Shiraishi finds himself agreeing with Shishido’s assesment. Fuji is going beyond his regular level of effort, but it’s definitely not because Jiroh is matching his skill level. The whole thing seems like Fuji’s showing off for someone. 

Shiraishi frowns at that thought. Fuji doesn’t have any particular rivals on Hyoutei, does he?

"So anyway," Shishido decides to conclude his analysis, "that’s why Jiroh’s enjoyment of this is less of a rivals thing and more of a Jiroh is a weird tennis masochist thing."

At that moment, Atobe clears his throat loudly behind the crowd. 

They all turn to look at him, suddenly a bit sheepish.

Atobe raises a single eyebrow.

"I believe you lot are aware of what you should be doing at the moment?"

There’s a moment of murmuring as the Hyoutei members scatter to other courts, leaving Shiraishi observing the match alone. Atobe walks up beside him, suddenly being trailed by Kabaji with the parasol again.

"Fuji is putting in an odd amount of effort," Atobe comments, eyes narrowing.

Shiraishi shrugs, “Can’t fault a guy for giving his all, can you?”

Atobe gives Shiraishi a look that says he very well can.

"Regardless," Atobe looks back to the match, "will you be leaving once Fuji has finished with this, or would you like to partake in some tennis yourself?"

Shiraishi desperately thinks back to his schedule, “Sorry, no can do. I’ve got other places to go, other people to see.”

"What a shame. I long for some competition these days."

"Game, Fuji, six games to one!"

As the match draws to a close, Fuji and Jiroh notice their spectators.

"Oh, done already Shiraishi?" Fuji smiles genially. He has not broken a single sweat.

Jiroh, on the other hand, is panting heavily as he waves both his arms at Atobe. 

"Hey, hey, Atobe! Did you see that last volley I did? It was super cool! I think I’m onto something here, Atobe!"

Jiroh faceplants onto the ground and Atobe sighs.

"As you can see, I have no worthy competition on my own team."

As Atobe instructs Kabaji to put down the parasol and go carry Jiroh to a bench, Fuji comes up to Shiraishi.

"Hello again Shiraishi. Did that go well?"

Shiraishi trails behind Fuji as he retrieves his tennis bag and jersey, “Oh, yeah, it went fine. I’ve got a practice match with Hyoutei now.”

Fuji looks up from putting away his racket, “That’s one more practice match than your coach got, good job.”

Shiraishi chuckles, “Yeah, thanks.”

Atobe looks away from Kabaji piggybacking Jiroh to look over his shoulder at his two guests.

"Then you shall be taking your leave now?"

"Yeah, we will," Shiraishi turns away and gives Atobe a little wave. "See ya next time, Atobe."

Atobe doesn’t return the gesture but he nods in acknowledgement, “We will indeed meet again.” 

He turns to Fuji, “Farewell to you too, Fuji. Send my regards to Tezuka.”

"I don’t think Tezuka will listen to them."

Atobe clucks his tongue, then does a half-spin to turn away from Fuji and Shiraishi before walking towards a court of second years.

Shiraishi and Fuji stand there for a moment, watching as Hyoutei returns to their focused exercises from before, and start to walk down one of the many tree-lined paths of the Hyoutei campus.

"These paths really do all look the same," Fuji comments idly. "I hope we don’t get lost on our way out."

Shiraishi hums in agreement.

—-

It takes them ten whole minutes to find their way off the Hyoutei campus.

"There was so much wasted space in that school I don’t even know where to begin," Shiraishi says as soon as they walk out the gates.

"It did seem a bit excessive," Fuji agrees.

"Completely excessive. If I’m remembering correctly, I’ve even fallen behind schedule due to their needlessly large campus," Shiraishi frowns. Hyoutei has its appeal, he’s sure, but between the uselessly sprawling campus and Atobe’s tendency towards frivolous dramatics Shiraishi can’t say it appeals to him.

"Well then, we’d best hurry up," Shiraishi notices that Fuji is refering to them as "we" now. "Where to next?"

"Ah, next is Yamabuki."

"Oh?" Fuji tilts his head questioningly. "Might I ask why you’re going there? They are good, but since they weren’t at Nationals I wouldn’t think you’d think of them."

"It was Koharu’s request." 

Koharu had requested it because he wanted to try out his and Yuuji’s comedy tennis on the plainest doubles pair in the nation. Well, that was what he said to Shiraishi’s face. Shiraishi overheard later that Koharu also wanted to “send his regards” to “that cutie Sengoku-kun”.

"Hm," Fuji brings a hand up to his chin. "Now that I think of it, it’s a good choice. I hear their coach is a bit hard to deal with, but it’s not like they’ll be fully booked or anything. You’ll almost certainly be able to schedule something."

Shiraishi nods, “Yes, I thought so too. Sometimes Koharu’s requests are frivolous but other times they have a nugget of usefulness to them.”

"What’s it like, working with that comedy tennis duo every day, anyways?"

Shiraishi looks down the street, “Well, start showing me the quickest way to Yamabuki and I’ll tell you while we walk.”

"Alright then, follow me. I know a bus that will get us there in thirty minutes."

Shiraishi had alotted fourty-five minutes for navigating to Yamabuki. He’ll be ahead of schedule again by the time they get there.

"Excellent."

—-

The bus is slightly late so it takes them thirty-two minutes, but Shiraishi doesn’t notice this until they get off at the bus stop.

While they were riding the bus, Shiraishi was much too engrossed in his conversations with Fuji to care.

It turns out that Fuji has a sense of humour. Most people find listening to Koharu and Yuuji stories cringe-worthy, but Fuji finds them incredibly entertaining. Sometimes he’ll even chime in with something funnier than the story Shiraishi’s telling or say something particularly clever about one of Shiraishi’s complaints.

Shiraishi honestly started to wonder how such a charming boy got such a bad reputation in the middle school tennis world.

Then Fuji said something on the subject of Mizuki Hajime and Shiraishi fully remembered why he was considered rather terrifying.

(It was a funny something about Mizuki, though. Not a joke Shiraishi himself would make on account of slight tastelessness and lack of grudge against Mizuki but definitely funny.)

Shiraishi is in the middle of telling a story about how Kenya got himself ostracized by all the girls in the school when Fuji stops walking and turns towards a building.

Yamabuki’s campus is not nearly as grand as Hyoutei’s, to say the least. The entrance to the nearest school building is hardly ten metres away from them.

"I don’t think we’re in as much danger of getting lost here," Fuji comments.

"No, definitely not," Shiraishi nods in agreement.

They stand there, staring down the path for a moment.

"We should probably still ask where the tennis courts are."

"That we should," Shiraishi nods again and starts down the path. "Come on Fuji-kun, we shouldn’t waste time."

Behind Shiraishi, Fuji rolls his eyes.

—-

Yamabuki’s captain Minami reacts to Shiraishi and Fuji’s appearance with much more confusion than Atobe did.

"Gosh, I really wasn’t expecting you, sorry about that," he says, as he opens the clubroom with both Shiraishi and Fuji trailing behind him. "We haven’t gotten any other school visitors for a while, much less two from different schools. We’d be happy to schedule things with both of you though."

"Oh, no," Fuji waves off Minami’s last comment, "I’m afraid you’re misunderstanding the situation."

At that, Minami pauses and his confusion deepens.

"Am I?"

Fuji nods.

"I’m not here to organize anything. I have no captainly authority, only Shiraishi here does."

"Well," Minami scratches at the back of his neck, "I guess that’s fine. But, if you’re not here for appointments, why are you here?"

Shiraishi looks down at Fuji, curious to hear his answer.

Fuji looks up at Shiraishi and smiles as enigmatically as ever.

"Oh, that’s a secret."

Shiraishi finds his curiousity deepening.

Minami eyes the two boys staring at each other warily.

"Okay. Sure. Just let me go get Banji. Wait for us here in the meantime."

Minami leaves the clubroom still looking rather confused.

"So," Shiraishi leans against a wall of lockers, "is it just a secret from him, or a secret from me, too?"

Fuji leans beside him, “Mmm, it’s secret from you too, I’m afraid.”

"Whaaat?" Shiraishi grins kind of jokingly. "Fuji-kun, I’m hurt, I thought we had a pretty good thing going on here."

Fuji just smiles as he usually does, “Oh, I think so too. I just also think that you should be able to figure out my motive on your own.”

Shiraishi brings a hand up to his chin, stroking it exaggeratedly thoughtfully.

"Are you accompanying me as part of a murder plot?"

Fuji giggles, “Ooh, good guess.”

"Planning to recruit me to Seigaku’s high school division next year?"

"That’s considerably less likely than the murder plot."

"You’re… Collecting data for that data guy of yours?"

"If Inui wanted data from this trip he’d follow you from the bushes himself."

"Maybe…" Shiraishi decides to try a serious guess. "You were just bored?"

Fuji pauses, before retorting.

"Eh? Was that seriously it?"

Fuji shrugs, “Well, you’re getting closer.”

"How can "being bored" be close to the answer but not quite?"

Fuji smiles as though he’s thought of something particularly clever.

"It is not quite the answer because I was not bored of Seigaku. However, the answer is related to boredom and amusement."

Many guesses come to Shiraishi from that answer, but none of them actually make sense. 

"I feel like you’re making this way more confusing than it ought to be."

"Maybe I am, maybe I’m not."

Shiraishi sees then why some people find Fuji rather irritating.

—-

Shiraishi mulls over Fuji’s reasoning for following him all throughout his talks with Minami and Yamabuki’s elderly coach, who is actually very nice and not at all hard to deal with.

Unwilling to continue the conversation on Fuji’s reasoning without a good guess, it is Yamabuki’s coach Shiraishi chooses to discuss while they’re leaving Yamabuki’s relatively small campus.

"I have no idea where he gets a reputation for being troublesome from, honestly," Shiraishi says.

"Ah, my coach has a particular dislike for him," Fuji offers, looking contemplatively elsewhere. "Perhaps it’s just her. He has been known to break Seigaku’s win streak during tournaments. I found him to be quite charming, myself."

"If he’s known for breaking people’s win streaks, perhaps you like him because you’re similar."

Fuji laughs, “Maybe so.”

There’s a pause, as they exit the gates of Yamabuki.

Just as Fuji turns to Shiraishi and opens his mouth, Shiraishi grins and interrupts.

"Well, Fuji-kun, next is Fudoumine. Know the way there?"

Fuji grins in turn.

"Of course I do. It’s six stations away by subway."

—-

Shiraishi is wary of subways. He’s never had to use them to commute, and whenever he does use them he always seems to get pushed around by the crowd or talked to by older women reminiscing about when their husbands were young and handsome like him.

Or, alternatively, somebody starts to hit on him and Zaizen takes a picture of the encounter on his cellphone and blogs about it for the whole team to laugh at later.

Regardless, nothing particularly uncomfortable happens as Shiraishi boards the subway with Fuji. There’s not enough crowd to be jostled around, and the only older woman seems to be taking a nap. They even manage to get seats.

They both sling their tennis bags off and hold them by their feet. 

Shiraishi eyes Fuji’s tennis bag questioningly.

"Why did you bring that, anyways?"

"Well, why did you bring yours all the way from Osaka?"

"To play tennis, obviously."

"My reasoning is the same."

Shiraishi eyes Fuji himself, a bit contemplatively this time.

"Were you… Hoping for a rematch?"

Fuji smiles slightly wider. Shiraishi is getting better at recognizing his changes in expression. 

"If you have time for me, of course."

Shiraishi stares at the ceiling as he thinks back to his timetable.

"There’s a bit of extra time built into my schedule, but not nearly enough for a whole tennis match. Maybe if you keep me ahead of schedule we can?"

Fuji hums thoughtfully.

"Tennis would be nice, but if you don’t have enough time, that’s fine too. We could do something else."

Shiraishi almost laughs at how thoroughly Fuji has stuck himself to his side for this trip.

"Besides," Fuji continues, "almost anything you do will be interesting."

Shiraishi has the odd feeling that Fuji has just given him a large hint as to his motive, and then the announcement of the next station cuts off his train of thought.

—-

By the end of the subway trip, Shiraishi had inevitably ended up discussing poisonous plants.

Fuji was more interested in this topic than any of Shiraishi’s teammates were.

"Honestly, I’d invite you to join my team just for listening to all that." Shiraishi said, grinning as he and Fuji ascended the stairs into sunlight once again.

"I’m not sure that’s the best way to go about recruiting players, Shiraishi."

"But it would sure get me a lot more players who are good listeners," Shiraishi looks at the sky and sighs as he thinks of his current team. "I have a distinct lack of those at the moment."

Fuji tilts his head curiously, “You seem to be friends with Chitose though.”

"Oh, yeah, Chitose’s a good listener. The problem with Chitose is that he is rarely around to do any listening. Sometimes I contemplate getting a child leash for him, but that would give us a worse reputation than we already have."

Fuji laughs at that. Presumably from the mental image of Chitose restrained by leash, which Shiraishi has to admit is one of the funnier things he’s come up with today. Chitose is clearly much too tall for a child leash. It would look much more plausible on Kintarou.

"Anyways," Fuji gestures down the street, "Fudoumine’s this way."

They start off at a walk again. Shiraishi is wondering if he should pick up the conversation about plants again when Fuji speaks.

"So why Fudoumine? They lost to you at Nationals, I’m not sure they’ll be particularly welcoming."

Shiraishi frowns.

"That’s what I thought too, but Chitose insisted I give it a shot."

"Why is that?"

"Well, he wanted to return something he borrowed from Tachibana, say hello to Tachibana’s little sister, and some other things that I can’t quite remember anymore."

"So he didn’t really want to go to Fudoumine to play tennis at all?"

Shiraishi takes a moment for realization.

"You know Fuji-kun, you’re exactly right."

Fuji raises an eyebrow at him, “How did you not realize that before?”

Shiraishi chuckles a little sheepishly, “Fuji-kun, I have a tendency to be single-minded. Occasionally this means I am slow on the uptake. It is a flaw of mine I have learned to acknowledge in my two years of being Shitenhouji’s captain.”

Fuji looks at Shiraishi thoughtfully.

"Well, that explains why you haven’t figured out why I’ve been tailing you yet."

"Fuji-kun, that statement was something that is a bit rude to agree with."

"Ah," Fuji takes a moment for realization. "That was kind of rude, wasn’t it."

—-

They arrive at Fudoumine a few minutes later, chatting about teammates some more as they walk through the entranceway.

They don’t need to go ask anybody to find the tennis courts this time, as they’re plainly visible behind the school building.

Fuji and Shiraishi don’t say anything to each other as they walk towards it, and when they finally walk past the building they see the whole Fudoumine courts.

The courts themselves, to say the least, are not terribly impressive. There are less than at both Seigaku and Shitenhouji, the machines some of their members are using look very old and can be heard creaking from far away, and there are cracks in the ground. In other places, there are lines where cracks have obviously been fixed.

But Shiraishi finds himself impressed nonetheless at the focus of the boys on those courts. They’re doing drills, yet not a single one of them appears to be spacing out or trying to chat to the person next to him. They’re all looking straight ahead, solemn-faced, and their forms are absolutely amazing. It’s a far, far cry from Shitenhouji.

Presiding over these drills is, of course, Tachibana Kippei, arms crossed across his chest, feet shoulder-width apart, barking out the next set of repetitions for his team members to do in that deep voice of his.

Shiraishi stares at the scene for a moment, highly unwilling to interrupt when they’re so in the zone.

Fuji looks at Shiraishi from the corner of his eye, “We interrupted Hyoutei earlier and that went fine.”

Shiraishi quickly looks away, off to the side, “Sorry. I guess I’m just thinking about how we beat Fudoumine during Nationals. That was a thing. Maybe talking to them isn’t such a good idea.”

Fuji studies him for a moment.

"Well, it’s best to just give it a shot I think."

Fuji then turns around and faces the Fudoumine regulars who still haven’t noticed them yet.

"Excuse me, Tachibana-san!"

Tachibana is startled out of watching his group and turns to Fuji and Shiraishi.

"Fuji-kun," he says, eyes wide in surprise. "I can’t say I was expecting you."

Fuji grins and points to Shiraishi, “Well, I ‘ve brought a guest with me, I hope you don’t mind.”

Shiraishi gives a small wave, “Hi.”

Tachibana raises his eyebrows.

"Well then, Fuji-kun, I shall greet you and this guest."

He turns to the group of still-practicing Fudoumine members again.

"Stop once you reach the end of this set and proceed to stretching! Afterwards, we shall hold matches amongst ourselves, so prepare for that as well!"

"Yes, sir!" they all respond, seemingly in sync. 

Although they’ve breached the step of getting Tachibana’s attention now, Shiraishi is feeling more intimidated by the minute.

Tachibana, meanwhile, walks towards Shiraishi and Fuji. Any confusion and surprise is gone from his face now. He’s all business.

Well, he’s all business for a second, then he gives a friendly smile to Fuji.

"Good afternoon, Fuji-kun. I apologize for not noticing you sooner."

"Oh, no, that’s fine," Fuji waves it off, smiling in return. "You looked pretty busy."

"Oh, we are. The team has to be absolutely top-notch for next year, see? Can’t have their confidence failing without me," he grimaces for a second, as he mentions his imminent graduation.

Fuji continues to smile, but it’s slightly gentler, “They’re good players, Tachibana-san. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

Tachibana shakes his head, “Ah, you’re right of course. Sorry for bothering you with that.”

Fuji laughs, “It’s fine, it’s fine. You apologize too much.”

"An has been getting on my case about that lately.”

Shiraishi watches, frowning slightly. He had no idea the two had even talked before, much less were fairly comfortable friends like this. Does Fuji just make friends with other teams’ captains where ever he goes? Then again, he certainly isn’t friends with Atobe. Or Minami for that matter.

It is then that Tachibana remembers Shiraishi’s presence.

"So," his gaze startles Shiraishi out of his thoughts, "I assume that since Shiraishi Kuranosuke is with you this is somewhat of a business visit?"

"Oh, er, yes," for the first time since Tachibana walked up to them, Shiraishi cuts in. "I certainly do have business with you, Tachibana-san. I hope you don’t mind."

"Oh no, not at all," he looks back to Fuji. "Do you have any business with me? As I recall, you are neither captain nor vice-captain, unless something has changed since I last checked."

"No, I still have no authority over Seigaku. I have no business with you, Tachibana-san. I’m accompanying Shiraishi here for the sake of pleasure."

Shiraishi’s eyebrows raise. Did Fuji just reveal his motive, right there? No, he’d be looking at Shiraishi if he had, wouldn’t he? It was a large hint, at any rate.

Tachibana looks a bit surprised too, “Well, I hope you’re enjoying yourself then, Fuji-kun.”

Fuji opens his eyes and smiles warmly, straight at Shiraishi.

"Oh, I’m enjoying myself so far."

Shiraishi finds thoughts of Fuji’s motive flying right out of his brain and feels a sudden surge of blood in his cheeks. How odd.

Tachibana, thankfully, doesn’t seem to notice anything, "Well, alright then, Shiraishi. Let’s get your business sorted out."

Tachibana starts to make his way to a nearby bench to sit down and talk, and Shiraishi dazedly follows after.

Fuji’s smile is noticeably larger than usual as Shiraishi does.

—-

Shiraishi’s negotiations with Tachibana are pleasantly short. They manage to negotiate a date for a joint practice just as the Fudoumine team members are starting the games against each other.

"I’m glad you came, Shiraishi," Tachibana tells him as they approach to watch the team for a while. "I’m sure your team coming here will be a good motivator for my regulars to work a little harder." He grins, "We’ll be wanting our revenge, you see."

Shiraishi grins back, “I’ll be expecting your best work, then.”

Seeing Tachibana from a distance, Shiraishi thought he would be serious to a fault like Sanada or something, but he’s actually very easy to talk to. He can see why Chitose and Fuji are friendly with the guy.

Just as Shiraishi thinks that, Fuji materializes on his other side.

"So, did you obtain any more appointments, Shiraishi?"

He nods and gives Fuji a thumbs up, “One more appointment! That makes three more than Osamu got.”

"As many plans as he had visible hickeys."

Shiraishi laughs.

Tachibana gives them an odd look.

"Ah," Shiraishi turns to Tachibana, bowing a bit. "Thank you for your time, Tachibana-san."

Tachibana bows in return, “It was no burden on me. Thank you for coming all the way to Tokyo in order to talk.”

Then, he turns to Fuji.

"It was nice to see you too, Fuji-kun, although we have not spoken much."

"Oh, that’s fine. It’s nice to drop by like this sometimes."

Tachibana nods, “Indeed.”

"Well, it seems that’s that," Fuji turns a bit, looks at Tachibana over his shoulder. "Goodbye, Tachibana-san."

Shiraishi turns too and pipes up again, “Goodbye, until next time!”

They start walking away.

"Goodbye, Fuji-kun and Shiraishi. Good luck with whatever "pleasure" you are accompanying each other for."

That makes Shiraishi’s cheeks redden as they walk away. He’s sure Tachibana didn’t mean any harm but the way he said it sounded kind of… Dirty.

Shiraishi looks at Fuji, but he has no visible reaction. Just his usual neutral smile. He doesn’t have innuendo on the mind, it seems.

"So," he jolts Shiraishi out of his thoughts. "Where are we off to next?"

He tilts his head curiously again. Shiraishi is starting to find the gesture somewhat cute.

He’s got to get his mind out of thinking about that kind of thing.

Shiraishi slaps himself on both cheeks.

"Um, Shiraishi, might I ask what you are doing?"

"Oh, it’s nothing Fuji-kun, don’t worry about it."

"Okay." Fuji purses his lips. "So are we going anywhere?"

He looks kind of hopeful. Hoping for what, Shiraishi has no idea.

Shiraishi thinks back to his schedule. He can’t remember the exact times anymore, it’s been too long since he’s checked it, but he still remembers the order of things.

"Well," Shiraishi begins in his best "starting a joke" tone, "there’s this school, I don’t know if you know it, but most people I know call it "Seigaku"…"

Fuji, oddly, looks a bit disappointed.

"Well, I can certainly show you there, but I can’t go in. Tezuka would give me laps until the end of my days."

It seems Atobe was right about Fuji skipping practice for Shiraishi. For “pleasure”. Because he thinks that “whatever Shiraishi does will be interesting”.

That’s all well and good, but Shiraishi still feels like’s he’s missing something about why Fuji’s here.

—-

They don’t talk all that much on their way to Seigaku. There’s not really all that much time to talk in, since the city bus gets them between the two schools relatively quickly.

Though Shiraishi does find out how Fuji became friends with Tachibana in this time.

"Repeated hospital visits," is the extent of what Fuji says, but somehow that explains enough. It makes Shiraishi wonder if Fuji’s friend-making techniques always involve worming his way into their business.

Not that he really minds, in his own case.

They arrive at Seigaku in short order. Fuji frowns a bit as he eyes the gates.

Shiraishi looks down at him, “Really can’t go in right now?”

"Tezuka’s going to kill me whether he sees me today or tomorrow. I’d rather have it be later than sooner."

Shiraishi feels a bit awkward, having to leave his companion at the door. Talking with Seigaku might take a while, they’re in high demand at the moment and Shiraishi’s schedule isn’t exactly empty anymore either.

"Well," Shiraishi bites his lip, "I would like you to die later rather than sooner as well. Would you like to meet back at these gates?"

"Hmm, maybe a bit farther away, I wouldn’t want anybody from my team to-"

"Ah, as expected, Shiraishi Kuranosuke has made his appearance at Seishun Gakuen around three o’ clock…"

"-see me."

Inui Sadaharu walks up to the entrance, closing the notebook he was writing in as he looks over Shiraishi and Fuji.

"Don’t worry Fuji, I have no intention of telling Tezuka you are in the vicinity of our school at the moment."

"Oh, I wasn’t worried about you, Inui," Fuji says, though it’s fairly plain to see that he was.

Inui grins and taps his notebook with his pen, “I’ll require a toll later, of course.”

"Sounds fun."

Fuji turns to Shiraishi again.

"I’ll just wait in the park three blocks down the right from here."

"Okay then," Shiraishi nods. "See you then, Fuji-kun."

He watches Fuji go for a second, and then turns back to eye Inui warily. He knows that Inui isn’t nearly as bad as Shitenhouji’s “data player” but the whole data-for-a-favour thing has Shiraishi a bit on edge anyways.

Inui opens his notebook again, “You don’t have to worry about me either, Shiraishi-san. I simply figured there would be a ninety-eight percent chance of Fuji accompanying you and I wanted an opportunity to extract data from him.”

Shiraishi blinks, “Okay.”

Inui turns away, back towards the school, “Come along, I’ll get the coach’s attention for you.”

Shiraishi trails behind a bit dazedly as Inui proceeds to write while he walks, “Why was Fuji’s chance of being with me so high?”

Inui doesn’t even look up from his writing to explain, “He stole one my notebooks to procure information on you and when you would be visiting Tokyo. Previous data indicates that Fuji is the sort to pursue his interests in a passive-agressive fashion. Logically, he’d attempt to meet you while you were in Tokyo.”

Shiraishi is not entirely sure he’s following, but he supposes that Inui’s information confirms that Fuji is really interested in him. Kinda weird that he’d steal Inui’s notebook, but whatever.

Shiraishi’s beginning to find it flattering anyways.

"Wait," Shiraishi frowns at Inui, "how did you know about my trip to Tokyo?”

That makes Inui frown in turn.

"Your team mate Konjiki Koharu has been texting me in an attempt to make conversation ever since he got a glimpse of my face without glasses."

Inui shudders. Shiraishi winces. 

"I’ll have a talk with Koharu about that." 

"Please do."

They don’t talk the rest of the way to the tennis courts.

Shiraishi wonders just how much data Fuji looked up about him and how long before he can go meet up with Fuji again.

—-

Unlike the other schools, Shiraishi doesn’t talk to Seigaku's captain at all, just their coach. 

He’s glad for it, frankly. Tezuka is hard to talk to and Ryuuzaki was very understanding about the whole Osamu thing. She was even willing to drag her team all the way to Osaka instead of the other way around, and sent Shiraishi off with a pat on the back.

Then, Shiraishi finds himself looking over Seigaku’s tennis courts in a bit of a daze.

He’s done everything he hoped to do in Tokyo.

Two whole hours ahead of his schedule.

Shiraishi turns to Fuji to demand he show him to a good restaurant to celebrate, but Fuji isn’t there.

He remembers then that Fuji couldn’t come into his own school.

_"I’ll just wait in the park three blocks down the right from here."_

Shiraishi sighs. He’d been appreciating the company almost a bit too much it seems.

"I’d better go find Fuji then." he says to himself, taking hold of his tennis bag on his shoulder and turning to leave.

"Hey, what was that about Fujiko?"

Shiraishi turns around to find himself looking at one curious-looking Kikumaru Eiji.

"Er," Shiraishi’s pretty sure Kikumaru and Fuji are good friends, but he’s also reasonably sure he’d still be blowing Fuji’s cover to actually repeat himself. "I said nothing. You were hearing things."

Kikumaru frowns at him, leaning up closer to Shiraishi’s face, “You aren’t lying, are you?”

Shiraishi leans away, throws his hands up in front of himself, “Oh no, definitely not, Kikumaru-kun. I said literally zero things about Fuji Shuusuke, you misheard me, I swear.”

Kikumaru backs off, but he still looks skeptical.

"You sure? I was positive he was going to skip to hang out with you, dang. I guess I have to buy Momo burgers now,” Kikumaru heaves a large sigh. “See you, Shiraishi.”

Kikumaru starts turning away, but Shiraishi grabs his shoulder on a whim.

Kikumaru raises an eyebrow.

"You know him fairly well, right," Shiraishi starts. "Fuji, that is?"

Kikumaru nods.

"Well, hypothetically speaking, if I have seen him, do you know why he would choose to accompany me?"

Kikumaru starts pouting again, thoughtfully as if he’s thinking about what to say, and then he shrugs Shiraishi’s hand off his shoulder and says:

"Well, after Nationals he told me that he thought you were kinda hot. He’s talked about you since, too. It seems to me that he has a little crush on you."

"Oh."

Shiraishi feels his face heat up. 

That theory makes sense. He can’t believe he missed that possibility earlier.

Kikumaru starts grinning at him knowingly, “So I’m guessing you have seen Fujiko then.”

Shiraishi quickly turns away, “Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t. Goodbye Kikumaru-kun.”

He speedwalks away from the Seigaku tennis courts, and pauses only once he reaches the outside of the gates.

He leans against the wall, still blushing, and fiddles with his bangs.

"A crush, huh."

What he’s going to do about this when he gets back to Fuji, he doesn’t quite know right now.

—-

Shiraishi finds Fuji fairly easily, sitting on a bench in the middle of the park, idly watching some birds hop around in front of him.

Shiraishi then ducks behind a nearby tree in hopes of quelling his sudden nervousness.

Somehow, he finds Fuji having a crush on him harder to deal with than Fuji appearing out of nowhere. Or maybe that does make sense, romance is supposed to be overwhelming, isn’t it? Though Shiraishi doesn’t know if one can really classify “knowing somebody has a crush on you” as romance.

It should be fairly straightforward, Shiraishi supposes, but to him it isn’t. Maybe all the blood rushing to his cheeks right now is preventing him from thinking straight.

"Shiraishi, why are you hiding behind a tree?"

Shiraishi jumps a foot in the air.

Fuji has moved from sitting on the bench to standing right behind Shiraishi while Shiraishi wasn’t paying attention. The birds he was watching are gone.

"Hello Fuji-kun," Shiraishi replies in what he hopes is a decidedly non-flustered manner.

"That doesn’t answer my question."

"I was. Er. Hoping to get the jump on you?"

Fuji is silent for a second. Shiraishi starts to sweat nervously.

Then, Fuji laughs.

"Surely you know enough about me to figure out that wouldn’t work."

Shiraishi tries to grin in return and scratches at his neck sheepishly, “I suppose I just didn’t put stock in every rumour I heard.”

"That is a good policy to have," Fuji nods sagely. 

He walks onto the paved path of the park as opposed to behind a tree, and Shiraishi dazedly follows him.

"So," Fuji looks over his shoulder at Shiraishi, "what’s the next stop on your schedule?"

Shiraishi manages a genuine, non-nervous grin this time.

"Oh, I’m all done with it! I’m yours for the next two hours, Fuji-kun."

As soon as he says that, he realizes how much that could be constituted as flirting. 

Fuji outright beams.

"Excellent! Let’s go do something fun."

Fuji grabs Shiraishi’s hand and Shiraishi returns to following him in a bit of a daze.

The flirting was unintentional that time, but maybe he’ll do it intentionally if the results make him feel fluttery like this next time too.

—-

Fuji drags Shiraishi all the way to a ramen shop. As he orders for them, he tells Shiraishi that it’s his personal favourite restaurant at the moment.

"At the moment?" Shiraishi snaps out of his reverie to say that much.

"Yes, at the moment. My favourite restaurant is always subject to change."

"That’s a good policy to have."

Fuji laughs, “I said that earlier.”

"Oh," Shiraishi looks down at the counter, face reddening a bit. "Right."

Fuji examines him for a second.

He’s undoubtably noticed how awkward Shiraishi’s being by now. Fuji’s far from unobservant, why he hasn’t said anything yet is well beyond Shiraishi’s understanding.

"You’re acting all cute right now, curling up in embarrassment when I say something. It’s like I’m poking a pill bug every time I talk."

Shiraishi sits right up and stares at Fuji.

Then, he starts to laugh.

"I think that’s the weirdest thing you’ve said to me all day, Fuji-kun."

He looks at Fuji and is sure to smile at him, pushing his embarrassment to the side.

Fuji’s face flushes the slightest bit, and at the sight of it Shiraishi decides he’s definitely going with the intentional flirting thing.

—-

They still have an hour and a half left once they finish their food.

Fuji has been smiling wider than usual almost the whole time. Shiraishi thinks he has been too. His face is getting kind of tired from smiling, at any rate.

Once they leave, Fuji strays back to the park.

"Want to hide behind more trees while we’re here, Shiraishi?"

"Very funny, Fuji-kun," Shiraishi looks around. "Why did we come back, anyways?"

"Oh, to regroup."

"But there’s only two of us?"

Fuji sits down on the bench he was occupying earlier and Shiraishi sits down beside him.

"Not that kind of regrouping," Fuji insists.

Shiraishi frowns, “I’m not sure I know what kind of regrouping you mean.”

"A figuring things out kind of regrouping."

Fuji gives him an oddly significant look. Shiraishi flushes a bit again.

"Okay."

"We’re getting everything out on the table," Fuji insists, leaning a bit towards Shiraishi’s face. "And then we’re going to reorganize the aforementioned table so things make sense."

"Alright."

His face is awfully, awfully close, and Shiraishi thinks he kind of understands the analogy Fuji’s trying to make. 

So he leans forwards and closes his eyes. His and Fuji’s noses bump. Shiraishi makes up his mind, and he changes the angle a bit.

Their lips meet.

Then Shiraishi pulls back and opens his eyes.

"Was that sufficient regrouping?"

Fuji opens his eyes. His smile looks a lot more content when he does that.

"More than sufficient. I meant "regrouping" like determining where to go next, but the kiss was much nicer."

Fuji leans on Shiraishi’s shoulder.

Shiraishi sighs a bit, “What was the leaning in for then?”

Fuji giggles, “Oh, you know, just an extension of flirting. Nothing to do with the conversation.”

"Okay."

There’s a pause. It’s kind of comfortable, having Fuji leaning on him. His hair smells like some kind of non-poisonous flower.

"Actually, I still don’t really get it," Shiraishi admits.

"I’m not going to explain my reasoning, then. Confusing you is fun."

Shiraishi leans his head on top of Fuji’s, “Don’t you think confusing everyone is fun?”

"That is true."

There’s another silence. Shiraishi is starting to digest just what he’s doing right now and what wider implications it could possibly have.

Fuji’s voice cuts in agian.

"Would you like to do some more "regrouping", Shiraishi?"

"That sounds good."

Shiraishi leans over to kiss Fuji again, deciding that thinking of implications is a lot less fun than this.

After all, they only have an hour and a half to kiss and lots more time than that to contemplate what the kissing means. If Fuji didn’t know his way around, they probably would have had only a half hour to kiss, so Shiraishi plans to take advantage of the excess of time.

Fuji starts tugging Shiraishi down closer towards him, and Shiraishi laughs against his mouth.

"You’ve made this trip so much more productive, Fuji-kun."


End file.
